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Runelords 58.0 - The River Ava
The group made it without incident through the Icemist Fens after parting ways with Naelia, managing to camp at the far edge that night. The next morning presented them with a problem, however: the river that they had been following seemed to no longer exist. Though they knew that the city of Xin Shalast was said to sit at the headwaters of the Ava River, it was certainly not before them. Knowing that there was no choice but to press on, Valeriya prepared and cast a divination spell to guide them up the mountainside towards the river source. Following the directions provided by the spell, the group pressed on, clambering up the rocky surface and fighting off the cold: everyone was beginning to feel the effects of the constant frigid temperatures. As they traveled, they noted the strange quality of the rocks beneath their feet. Virgil pointed it out and Silva confirmed his suspicions: this was a volcano. They theorized that volcanic activity in the past must have diverted or buried the river beyond the fens, leaving them without a path to follow. As they walked, everyone began to feel an ominous presence around them, watching. Though there was no evidence of anything physically present, all of the adventurers knew that they were not wanted here. By the time noon came, they found themselves, somehow, standing back at the edge of the fens. Despite always following the directions of the divination, they had looped back behind themselves to where they had started. Setting out again, they found themselves yet again in the same position a few hours later. Stymied, they prepared camp once more. Settling in for the evening, the group ruminated on how they would advance. Valeriya prayed fervently and led Luna in meditation, sensing her inner turmoil. As they considered the path forwards, Naelia's voice whispered to them on the wind, advising them to "cleanse themselves". They shared the contents of their personal predictions from the previous day, and focused on Luna's as potentially being the most immediately relevant. Interpreting hers to be instructions as to find "what she sought", hopefully Xin Shalast, they reasoned that the way would become clear under the light of the full moon, which would start in about four days. They also deduced that the phrase "let hunger hold" might be in reference to fasting, especially when considering Naelia's suggestion to "cleanse". With that, they agreed to start a ritualistic fast guided by Valeriya. Silva declared them to all be mad for even thinking about trying to climb a mountain while half-starved. Unsure as to whether or not the presence of someone who wasn't cleansed would ruin their ability to find the path or otherwise might invite calamity of some kind, everyone agreed that on the night of the full moon, Silva would split ways with the party. When the time came, those who had fasted and meditated saw something rather magical as the full moon rose: a silvery, ghost-like river wound its way through the rocks before them. Silva saw nothing and bid them good luck as they started their trek. Walking all through the night, the group continued to chant prayer as they tried to ignore their ever-mounting hunger and exhaustion. The ominous feeling followed them but they ignored it, fixed on tracking the river with as much speed as they could muster. The sun rose but the river did not disappear: they reasoned that they must have the whole three nights of the moon to chase it. Certain that stopping or failing in their fast would cause the ghost river to disappear, they did not pause or eat; exhaustion came on them with a vengeance, sapping their strength but not their wills. During their second day of travel they came upon the first sign that they were headed in the correct direction: an ancient watchtower. From where they stood they could just make out horrible shapes of fleshy, featherless vulture-like creatures hanging about the roof. Shrouding themselves in invisibility, they began to creep closer: in order to follow the river, they had to move through a narrow pass and walk a stone's throw away from the watchtower's door. As they crept, they saw a woman standing guard by the doorway with a face ravaged by horrible burn scars. They managed to escape her direct notice but she glanced about as though having heard something. A sound caught their attention as well: looking up, they could see another one of the monsters flying, coming in for a landing. It was unmistakably a lamia, with a snake-like body and a woman's torso, but her features were mutilated by an old acid burn and horrific fleshy wings had been grafted onto her back that gave her flight. Just when they thought they might be in the clear, the guardswoman shifted her appearance, revealing herself to be another mutated lamia, her terrible scars still present. She took to the air and began to scout about, searching for them. Unwilling to risk revealing themselves and setting off an alarm, the group hustled under their shroud of invisibility. An hour later, when the spell was about to wear off, she still hounded them, flying in wide, lazy circles. Virgil took cover under an outcropping of rock and recast the spell, giving them another hour. By the time this one wore off, the lamia had given up and returned towards the tower. As the night was falling, the group came across something deeply heartening: the very beginnings of a ruined cobblestone road. Following it a bit further, they found the first small speck of gold flecked into the rock. They congratulated themselves through their exhaustion while Khyr took a souvenir of a piece of brick. Unfortunately, they were all on the edge of collapsing after their days of starving and lack of sleep. Finding a well-hidden crevasse nearby, they all wedged themselves into the minuscule cave to hide and sleep. Their problems were far from over, however. Though it was no trouble for most of them to eat and sleep off their exhaustion, Luna was another issue entirely. It had been a long time since she had fed and there had been no trace of any animals at all this high up the mountain. She had fallen into an almost trance-like state, growling constantly and staring at the others with a hunger. Worse still, at least once through the night the sounds of a patrol walking by reached their ears: this place was under surveillance. With nothing to hunt, no ability to summon animals and the fear of not being able to return should they teleport away, Virgil assessed their meager options with some panic. Khyrralien eventually settled on what he determined was the best course of action: using Silence on himself, he baited Luna using his tail. She snapped and began to tear off hunks of his tail, consuming it. By the time she had nearly eaten the entire length of tail, she regained her senses and dropped to the floor, overcome with horror and self-revulsion. With the deed done, the group settled in to rest further as Virgil comfortingly held Luna, catatonic with despair at having violated her vow not to eat sentient people. Khyr, his tail stump healed to stop bleeding, collapsed onto Eamon, muttering about how he had never had an appendage eaten before. Category:Rise of the Runelords